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Jan. 29, 1957 F'iied March 29, 1956 H. V. REID TRUSS 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR HAROLD v. REID ATTORNEY H. V. REID Jan. 29, 1957 TRUSS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 29, 1956 FIG. 6

United States Patent TRUSS. Harold v. Reid, Hialeah, Fla. Application March 29,1956, Serial No. 574,902 Claims. c1.12s-9s This invention relates to improvements in an anatomical truss and has application to a belt supported structure for therelief of persons affiicted with a hemorrhoidal condition. The truss isaddressed, as well, to the support and reduction of abdominal ruptures.

An object of the invention is to provide a truss which will be simple in construction and eflicient in practice, to be readily and conveniently adjusted to the physical conformation of the wearer.

Another object is to provide a device of the character and for the purposes described which may be maintained in sanitary condition.

A further object is to provide an abdominal truss and anal supporting combination which may be readily and economically manufactured.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a truss assembly from which the several components may be readily separated for disassembly.

These and other advantages of the invention will be discernible from the detailed description thereof hereinafter set forth.

According to the invention, the truss comprises the usual waist encircling belt, and a suspensory carried thereby, front and back shield members arranged on the belt and slideably and adjustably connected therewith through frictional contact engagement of suspensory strap members with the shields and the belt, a longitudinally disposed and perforated tubular element carried by the suspensory in pressure seating contact with the anal area and detachably secured to suspensory structure.

The invention is embodied in the truss exemplified in the accompanying drawings in which the views are as follows, like reference characters designating identical or analogous parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1, a perspective view of the truss;

Fig. 2, a section on line 22, Fig. 5;

Fig. 3, a section on line 33, Fig. 4;

Fig. 4, a side elevation of the anal supporting member;

Fig. 5, a plan of the crotch piece;

Fig. 6, an elevation of the inner face of the front shield;

Fig. 7, a section, enlarged, on line 77, Figs. 1 and 6; and

Fig. 8, an elevation of the inner face of the back shield.

The truss has a belt 1, fabricated from webbing or like material suitable to provide a comfortable waist encircling band and fastenable, for example, with any conventional meanssuch as the snap fastener 2, which may be spaced along the belt to permit adjusting the same to various waist sizes.

Arranged on the belt, is a front shield 3 and a back shield 4. These shields consist of double plies having the usual marginal stitching to provide a single piece tab element and fabricated from suitable semi-rigid but flexible material such as leather or the like.

The belt carries a pair of front straps 5 and back straps 6, the straps in each pair converging at the bottom 2,779,330 Patented Jan. 2?,

2.. thereof to form the middle ply 7 (Figs. 2 and 5) of a crotch piece shown generally at C, there being a top ply 8 and bottom ply 9, fastened together by the usual, marginal stitching. The crotch piece C has the top and bottom plies formed of any suitable material, preferably but not necessarily offlexible sheetleather.

The shields 3 and 4-are slideably and adjustably connected to the belt through the upper portions of the straps, the construction of which is best shown in. Fig. 7 as applied to each strap of the assembly The strap 5, for example, is passed upwardly between the inner and outer plies 10 and 10', being interwoven with the outer ply through transverse slits 12 cut therein. The strap emerges from the topmost slit, the free end 5 forming a re-entrant portion led back into slit 13 of the outer ply 10' and directed downwardly between the plies. The strap thus forms a loop 14 which embraces the belt 1 and the topmost portion of the outer ply-10', frictionally engaging these elements in positive holding contact but permitting free slideable movementtherebetween on loosening the free end 5'.

The strap 5 and its overlapping free end 5', are confined in passage between the inner and outer plies of the shield by a pair of parallel stitching lines S (Figs. 1, 6, and 8), whereby to form a sleeve for the reception of these strap portions.

By this construction, the shields 3 and 4, the straps and the belt portions associated therewith constitute a suspensory readily adjustable to the conformation of the body of the wearer.

A function of shields 3 and 4 is to carry suitable supporting pads such, for example, as the hernia pad 15 shown in Fig. 6 and conventionally employed in abdominal rupture. The shield 3 may accordingly be fitted with the usual snap fasteners 16 against the inner face thereof and complementary fastening members engageable therewith may be secured against the contiguous face of the pad 15 for removably attaching the pad to the shield. For double hernia afflictions, a second pad shown in phantom at 15' may in like manner be attached on the left side of the shield as viewed in Fig. 6, using similar fasteners at 16.

The back shield may likewise be provided with a back pad 17, attachable to the inner face of the shield by snap fastening devices 18, for the relief of spinal and like ailments requiring the application of supporting braces of the character described.

Arranged upon the crotch piece C is a tubular anal support 19 adapted for pressure seating contact against the rectal area, whereby to prevent protrusion of the affected tissues and alleviate suffering and inconvenience resulting from a hemorrhoidal condition. The anal support 19 is disposed longitudinally of the crotch-piece, the upper peripheral surface of the support being orificed as at 20 and the ends thereof being open.

The anal support is preferably constructed of a plastic tubing, the material being of any of the industrial plastics known in the art for characteristics of resilient firmness, smoothness, and relative elasticity as conventionally encountered in the plastic hose and tubing arts. The support may be longitudinally arcuate with the convex surface facing upwardly and the ends thereof beveled inwardly and downwardly as depicted in Fig. 4, there being at each end of the device an endwise extension 21 projecting from the bottom periphery of the support. These extensions 21 are receivable in slits 22 cut into the top ply 8, of the crotch piece (Fig. 5), these slits being spaced so as to receive the extensions 21 in pocket members formed on the underside of the top ply 8 whereby to detaehably secure the anal support 19 upon the crotch piece.

Whenthesuspensory. has been adjusted to the individual requirements of the wearer, the anal support 19 is brought into pressure seating contact against the rectal area; the resiliency of the device permits effective pres:

sure to be directed to the'alfe'cted-parts wherebyto oppose the protrusion common to prolapsus ani.. The orifices 20,"which:cornmunicatewith the-open qen'dsof the support- 19, provide free circulation 'of air therethrough, a desirable characteristic in devices ofthis type;

Having thus described the invention and the mode of its practice being apparent fromithel description, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is set forth below, it being understood thatvarious modifications to the above described apparatusare possible withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed" I claim: 1 1

1. In a truss, the combination with at waist encircling belt, of a suspensory carried by said belt and an anal support arranged in said suspensory for pressure seating contact 'with'the rectal area of the wearer, said support defining a normally cylindrical'tubular body orificed in the seating surface thereof and open in at least one end thereof and said body being disposed longitudinally of said suspensory.

2. T In a truss, the combination of a belt for engirding the waist of a wearer, a front shield and a back shield arrangedon said belt, a pair of front straps and back straps associated respectively with said front and back shields and converging downwardly between the legs of the wearer to define a crotch piece member, a longitudinally disposed tubular body detachably secured to said crotch piece for pressure seating engagement with the rectal area of the wearer and defining a support therefor, said body being-orificed in the upper periphery thereof and open at the ends thereof.

3. Atrusscomprising a belt member, a pair of front and back shields, means slideably connecting said shields to said belt, a pair of front and back straps suspended from said belt and converging downwardly, a crotch piece carried by said straps at the bottom ends thereof, a resilient tubular body disposed longitudinally on said crotch piece to define an anal support in pressure seating relation to the rectal area of the wearer, said tubular body being orificed in the seating area and open at the ends thereof.

4. The invention as defined in claim 3 and said shield connecting means consisting of the looped ends of said straps at the top thereof, said looped ends embracing said belt member and a portion of the shield adjacent thereto in frictional holding engagement whereby to releasably unite said' looped end, said belt member and said shield.

5. In a truss, the combination of a belt for engirding the Waist of a wearer, a front shield and a back shield arranged on said belt, a pair of front straps and ba'k straps fastenable at the top thereof to said belt and riaspectively to said front and back shields and each pair converging downwardly between the: legs of the wearer, a crotch piece formed at the bottom junction of said straps, a longitudinallydisposed tubular body detachably' secured on saidcrotch piece, said tubular body defining an arcuate rectal support longitudinally thereof with the convex face thereof in pressure seating engagement with the rectal area of the wearer, said tubular body being beveled downwardly and inwardly at the ends thereof, said body being orificed in the engagement area thereof and being open-ended to provide the free circulation of air between said orifices and said ends.'

References Cited in thefile of this patent' UNITED STATES PATENTS 96,460 Mervine, Jr, Nov. 2, 1869 1,581,009 1 McSherry Apr. 13', 1926 1,640,416 MacDonald Aug. 30, 1927 

